


i'll search every last cosmos

by sunsetsand



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Exhaustion, Memory Loss, Multi, Non-Canon Relationship, Polyamory, Post-Final Disc War, Rescue Missions, Self-Sacrifice, Sleepy Bois Inc as Family, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Warnings May Change, also some skephalo because why not, karl needs a hug, karl wants his fiancés back, who dun it vibes, you can have a sprinkle of dnf as a treat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:46:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29648745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsetsand/pseuds/sunsetsand
Summary: The first thing Karl noticed about their lovely home was the lack of sound coming from it. Strange, He thought to himself- usually you can hear laughter or yelling emanating from the house.Karl time-travels through dimensions (don't think about it too much) to rescue his fiances.
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity/Karl Jacobs/Sapnap
Comments: 8
Kudos: 69





	1. everything is fine

**Author's Note:**

> new fic! pretty soon after theseus? i found myself wanting to get going on another fic, so here we are!  
> tw// mention of death, kidnapping
> 
> enjoy :)

Karl carefully climbed onto the quartz ledge. No matter how exhausting time travel got to be, at least he had the In-Between to explore before he got thrown back into his own time. 

He had to give it to whoever- or rather, whatever created his place. It was beautiful, no doubt about it. White trees lined the delicately carved walls, and glowing lights hung from every nook and cranny. 

It was hard, seeing both of his fiances but knowing it wasn’t really them; just their ancestors, or versions of them. It was even harder having to  _ kill  _ one of them. Karl had resolved to not think about that duel, but it was hard to get it out of his head; his vision splotched with sun, Karl had drawn back the crossbow, staring into his lover’s eyes-

Karl’s nightmare of a memory was interrupted by a book laying on a pedestal. He quickly walked over to begin reading. 

_ This is the In-Between. You’ve been here a few times now.  _

“Yeah, I know…” He thinks out loud. 

_ If you explore this grand castle enough, you can find the secret to not losing your memory.  _

“Yeah, I know that too. I know i’m the one losing my memory here but I know for a fact you’ve already told me this, many times.” Karl murmured. He wasn’t getting  _ annoyed  _ with time travel, per se; he just wanted to know already. If this castle knew, why wouldn’t it just tell him?”

Karl was about to close the ornate book, when he realized something was being written in the book. 

_ I chose you, Karl. Will you succeed?  _

Karl looked at the book suspiciously. 

_ Nothing can interfere with this, Karl. No distractions from your goal.  _

“Uh…”

The book started shaking, and someone kept writing something, the handwriting getting sloppier and sloppier with time.

_ DON’T STRAY FROM THE PATH DON’T STRAY FROM THE PATH DON’T STRAY FROM THE PATH DON’T STRAY FROM THE PATH DON’T STRAY FROM THE PATH DON’T STRAY FROM THE PATH DON’T STRAY FROM THE PATH DON’T STRAY FROM THE PATH  _

Ink splattered across the page, the paper nearly ripped in two, like something had possessed this book. Karl rapidly grabbed the book and slammed the pages together, and just like that it stopped.

Karl quickly placed the book back and speed-walked away from the ominous pedestal. He was ready to leave, so he headed to the balcony he always went to when he was ready to leave this place. 

The balcony overlooked a semi circle of trees; two paths lead down into the garden. The center of it all; a large, floating crystal loomed in the air. Karl looked at the view for just a moment, before closing his eyes and feeling the world slip away. 

Once he felt himself re-enter a mortal plane of existence, he slowly opened his eyes. The familiar path he made for himself was worn with footprints, and Karl realized for the first time just how exhausted he was. Karl made his way back to his library, where he nearly collapsed onto the armchair. 

Karl decided that he would quickly go visit Sapnap & Quackity before leaving to go write down the story in his library. He worried about his fianc é s often even before he gained the ability to time travel, but now? After seeing both of them die so many times, even if it’s not really them? Karl still found himself biting his nails when Quackity would go to climb a tree. He had to physically walk away when Tommy dueled Sapnap as a joke. The horrors of his past- although Karl could hardly call it his- haunted him and his every action. 

His pace quickened as he made his way to the small cottage they shared. It was a quaint little thing; warmth radiating from it. The mushroom accents and spruce base gave it a very homely look. Karl, Sapnap, and Quackity had all spent weeks making this house. They all loved it. 

The first thing Karl noticed about their lovely home was the lack of sound coming from it.  _ Strange,  _ He thought to himself- usually you can hear laughter or yelling emanating from the house. 

_ They must both be out,  _ Karl reasons as he opens the door to enter the house. The living room was empty, and as Karl expected neither of them had remembered to put the chicken in the oven like he told them to do. 

“Pizza delivery it is.” He said to nobody in particular. Karl headed upstairs to go take a shower and then a nap. Oh, how ready he was to just fall asleep; today had been so exhausting and it was getting harder and harder to hide his memory predicament from Quackity in particular. He’d fudge a fact, and Quackity would stare at him for a moment too long to be unintentional. Sapnap tended to laugh these things off, would ignore them but Quackity was a whole other story. Quackity was different, now. It wasn’t a drastic difference, he was still the Big Q that Karl loved; but Quackity was quieter now. He would flinch sometimes when Sapnap got a bit too loud. Back in the earlier days, Sapnap and Karl would hear Quackity sobbing from the other room. 

Karl stll remembered the night Quackity fled to his house in the middle of the night, sobbing. His clothes were torn from running through the forest in the stormy rain, his hair was dirty and soaking, but the first and only thing Karl noticed was the sickly purple bruise on Q’s left cheek. 

Those days were tough; but they weren’t now anymore. 

_ “Alex?” Karl said. “Alex, what’s going on? What’s wrong?”  _

_ Alex was sitting in the corner of his bedroom, rocking while muttering something to himself.  _

_ “Alex, can you hear me? It’s Karl.”  _

_ Alex looked up, disgruntled, and then shot up.  _

_ “Karl! Karl you’ve got to help me, you’ve got to help me Schlatt is coming for me, he’s going to take me away and he’s going to kill you! He’s going to kill you and Sapnap and-” _

_ Karl pulled Alex into a hug.  _

_ “Alex, it’s okay. Schlatt’s dead. You don’t have to worry about him anymore, okay?”  _

_ Alex sunk into his shoulders. _

_ “Hey, Karl?” _ __  
  


_ “Yeah, Alex?” _

_ “I don’t- I don’t like that name, anymore. It reminds me of- of him.”  _

_ Karl nodded. “What do you want me to call you, then?”  _

_ The shorter man pondered the question. _

_ “Can you call me Quackity?” _

Karl quickly made his way upstairs, and only went into his bedroom to grab a change of clothes before hopping into the steaming hot shower. 

The shower felt cleansing, in a way. Like maybe if Karl scrubbed hard enough, he could wash off the pain and ache. As the room filled with the scent of cedar, Karl let himself breathe, really breathe for a moment. 

The time travel was taking a toll on him, mentally and physically. He was weaker, now. Tired all the time. 

Karl got out of the shower and changed out of his dirty clothes. 

He walked into his bedroom, fully expecting to plop down and pass out. However, a piece of paper was on the bed. It looked like a letter.

_ I hope you never have to read this.  _

_ Karl, if you’re reading this, it means me and Sap are dead. That’s- that’s a lot to take in, so breathe. This isn’t a prank or joke, we’re dead. Please don’t look for us, because you won’t find us. I’m sorry, Karl. I hope with all my heart you accept and move on. We both love you, Karl.  _

_ -Alex _

_ P.S.: He esked lf peter understood sally.  _

Karl stood in shock for a moment. None of this made sense. Quackity randomly leaves a note saying both of them are dead? He’s gotten radio silence from both of them and now this? Most concerningly, why was Quackity using the name none of them had uttered in years?

_ Quackity wouldn’t have just left.  _

Karl stares at the diamond in the corner of the paper. 

_ He’s trying to tell you something.  _

Karl first looked at the diamond, a crudely drawn depiction of a diamond with some squiggles around it. Why did Quackity draw this? What did it mean, and most importantly why did it look vaguely familiar? 

He turned his attention to the PS. Quackity was never one to make even the smallest grammatical errors, let alone spell asked with an e. He started at it for a second, willing the letters to reveal their hidden meaning. 

_ The three were in a heated board game match, with Sapnap in the lead. The fool had made the mistake of leaving to go to the bathroom, and the second Sap was out of earshot, the two were conspiring.  _

_ “If we can find someway to communicate what kind of cards we have to each other, we can use that to fuck him over-” _

_ “But how?” Karl asked. _

_ Quackity bit his lip then laughed.  _

_ “I got it, Karl!”  _

_ They both heard the sound of Sapnap making his way back towards them. _

_ Quackity whispered, “Pay attention to what I say.” _

_ Sapnap sat down nonchalantly. “What did you boys talk about while I was gone?”  _

_ “The economy.” Karl blurted. “And taxes.” _

_ Sapnap looked at him untrustingly. “How interesting.” _

_ “Y’know, Sapnap, I heard you have 3 spare panda dolls. Is this true?” _

_ Sapnap gave Quackity a confused stare. “What?” _

_ “Oh, nevermind.” he replied.  _

_ Karl knew Quackity was trying to tell him something. But what? _

_ Karl took the first letter out of each word: SPD. Spade. Quackity was telling him he had a 3 of spades.  _

_ Karl looked down at his Spade king and he knew Sapnap was no longer going to win this game.  _

Karl looked back at the note at the bottom, “ _ He esked If peter understood sally.” _

_ HEIPUS.  _

Heipus? What does that mean? Karl looked closer at the handwriting, and realized the I had a very small, almost unnoticeable tail at the end, which meant if you looked close enough, It could be an L. 

_ HELPUS.  _

_ HELP US.  _

Karl felt himself getting sick. 

He turned to the paper, and realized with dread flowing through his brain, that the diamond + squiggles looked eerily close to the floating crystal and tree landscape he had just seen an hour ago. 

_ I have to help them. I have to save them.  _

Before Karl could think rationally, or think at all, he had ran out of the house, with only a backpack of a few bare essentials. 

It wasn’t long before he arrived at the library, and as Karl stepped into the green and purple glowing portal, he realized he wasn’t going home for a long time. 


	2. loving you is a losing game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s sort of weird, but I get this feeling that i’ve-” Sam swept the hair out of his face. “That i’ve known you for a long time. Like- Like were-” 
> 
> “-Meant to be.” Karl finished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> song rec for this chapter: arcade by duncan laurence
> 
> im gonna be honest with you guys, i have no clue what time period this is based in. just roll with it. hope yall enjoy chap 2!

The wet ground molded around Karl’s shoes as he stepped into the dimension. The large droplets of rain crashed down on Karl, and he briefly wished he would’ve paused to bring more things. His iconic sweatshirt, while pretty and usually durable, was not built for rain. 

Karl spotted a lit-up house and made his way towards it. Worst case scenario it’s home to a bunch of fire-breathing witch demons. (Karl ruled this unlikely.)

Before Karl even made it close to the house, he could hear laughter coming from it. The stormy sky made it hard for Karl to register things infront of him, and he promptly fell into the muddy ground. 

“Ugh, my hoodie’s all dirty now.” He mumbled to himself, as he arrived on the creaky wooden porch of th house. Karl took a deep breath. “Might as well try.” He knocked on the door. He was about to knock again after an awkward amount of silence when a rather tall person greeted him at the door. 

A person he recognized as Wilbur. 

Wilbur looked different; he wore a puffy white shirt and a large red cape. He even had a crown on, and before Karl could question the man’s attire further, he recognized that a blade was being pointed at his throat. 

“State your business. You have five seconds until I kill you.” 

Karl fumbled over his words, as one would normally do when their life is being threatened. “I- uh- long story, actually- i, eugh- ran away! Yes, I ran away from some- uh- bears. Very scary bears, large too. So- I guess you could say that i’m new in town?” 

Wilbur, or rather, this weird version of Wilbur, stared long and hard the obviously out of place man with untrusting eyes. 

“There are no bears anywhere near here.”

“Did I- uh, did I say bears, haha? I meant wolves. Wolves were chasing me.”

“We don’t live near any wolves either.” 

Karl cursed under his breath. “Look, I-”

“Wilbur? Stop interrogating the poor man.” A man that looked disturbingly like Phil appeared in the doorway. 

“How can we help you, son?”

Karl smiled. “If it’s not a hassle, could I come in?”

“No. You can’t. Sorry, goodbye-” Wilbur said while slamming the door in Karl’s face. Through the door, Karl could hear muffled arguing, and the door opened back up. 

“Sorry about that” Phil replied. “Please, come on in.” 

Karl entered into the house and immediately noticed Technoblade and Tommy in the living room. 

“What are your names?” Karl asked, in an attempt to differentiate the people standing in front of him from his home dimension versions. 

“My name is Pat.” The-Phil lookalike replied. “That’s Wyatt,” He pointed to the Wilbur. “Those two are Thomas and Theo.” Pat said, motioning to Tommy and Technoblade. 

_ If I slip up and call them by their real names, I’m fucked.  _ Karl thought to himself. 

Tommy  Thomas glanced up at him. 

“What’s this weirdo bitch doing here, dad?” 

_ At least some things are normal in this dimension.  _

Pat only shook his head. 

Theo stood up. “Dad, you said we could go to the town square today. So I could pick up the paint I need for my mural?” 

“But it’s raining.” Phil replied. 

“Not anymore.” Theo responded, and Karl looked and it was infact not raining anymore. The sun blazed high in the sky. 

Phil stared at the crystal clear sky and sighed. “Alright, let’s go.”

\---

The town square was homely. Stores of baked goods and a bustling movie theatre and a farmers market adorned the crowded center. Theo and Wyatt ran off to the art store, Theo after some more blue paint and Wyatt after a mannequin, presumably to stab. Pat, Thomas, and Karl all stuck together. First, they went to a candy shop (Thomas’s choice), and then to a bookstore to buy a gardening manuel (Pat’s choice). Waiting at the checkout line, Thomas stood tapping his foot. 

“Dad, can we leave for the comic book store? I’m bored.” 

“You go ahead, Thomas. Bring Karl with you too.” Pat replied, now speaking to the cashier.

Thomas dragged Karl over to the comic book store, and Karl was grateful for the fresh blast of air that hit him from the air conditioner. 

Karl stood by the store window, glancing at Thomas flipping through various brightly colored pages. 

  
He turned to stare at the town square. A large tree, in the middle of the bustling plaza, was being circled by many children chasing after each other. In the shade of the tree, Karl could see a child reading a book, immersed in their own world of ink and paper. 

_ Why can’t I figure out what’s wrong with this world? Am I broken? Is there something wrong with me? I’m trying, i’m really trying. I don’t know why it’s so hard this time, or why i’m so upset I haven’t figured it out yet. I just- _

_ I feel like a failure, I guess. When I can’t… fix the problem.  _

Karl was so immersed in his thoughts he didn’t see the man walk through the door until the man spoke to him. 

“Hello, do you work here?”

“No-” Karl started, turning his head and swiftly releasing he was face to face with another version of Sapnap. 

_ What a cruel joke.  _

“Yes! No, yes I am!” Karl finished, trying to look as normal as possible. 

This man, looking scarily like his fiance, gave him a funny look. “Okay. Can you tell me where to find the manga?” 

Karl panicked. “Uh- uh- over there!” He replied, pointing in a vague direction.

“Thanks.” The man shuffled away. 

Karl swore under his breath. No matter what dimension or timeline he was in, his fiances still left him speechlessly nervous. It was a testament to his love for them, he said. It was a weaknessm another part of him said. 

He ignored the latter. 

“Hey, I can’t find any manga here?” 

Karl quickly ran out of the store. “I can’t deal with that right now.” He reasoned. 

_ I have to figure out what’s wrong here. _

“There has to be something, right? Something I’m missing?” He muttered to himself. 

Karl then spent the next 3 hours running around the town trying to find a problem. First, he noticed that a shop sign was spelt incorrectly. He fixed the letters to spell out “THEATRE” instead of “TEATRE”. Then, he noticed a little girl was crying, bent down to help her, found out that little girl was actually a boy, nearly ran away because oh fuck, then helped them find their dog. 

He ran into Thomas, who was properly mad he had been abandoned at the comic stores. He helped Theo in the art store pick the right shade of crimson for the blood of someone who used to be innocent (he just picked a random red), and helped Wyatt pick which sword to buy (he was terrified the entire time). 

When nothing continued to happen, Karl watered the large tree. Then he helped an old lady make her way to the sewing store. Then, he fed a bunny some carrots. Then he cried. (He’s a sensitive person, okay) 

To say Karl was exhausted would have been an understatement. He fiddled with the watch on his wrist; the thing still hadn’t given him the go-ahead for a new dimension. He was  _ still _ missing something. He had covered the watch, unsure of the time period this place was set in; you never know how people would react to things like this. If he could guess, he was anywhere between 1950s. It was also entirely it was none of them. Or both, or a weird fusion of time periods. Okay, so he had no idea. 

Karl was currently in line at a coffee shop, and was grateful to finally be at the front of the line. 

“Can I get an iced americano with 2 pumps hazelnut and extra cream?” Karl replied instantaneously. 

The man stared him confused. “What?”

Karl revised his previous order. “Can I just get a regular coffee with a lot of sugar and creamer?”

Karl sat down at the wooden table, sipping his very sweet coffee. He’d been here nearly half a day and he was no closer to getting out of here. What was he supposed to do?

Without warning, Sapnap 2.0 (as he had affectionately named the spitting image of his lover) sat down infront of him.

“Hey, why’d you run away?” He asked Karl. 

“You could’ve asked before you plopped yourself down at  _ my _ seat.”

“I don’t see your name on it.” 

“Touche.” Karl responded. 

“Answer my question.” Sapnap 2.0 said, taking a sip out of Karl’s coffee. “Ew, so sweet!” He gagged, pushing the cup away. 

“Because I didn’t actually work there.” Karl replied honestly. 

Sapnap cocked an eyebrow. “Why’d you say you did then?” 

“Because you’re cute. And you remind me of someone.” 

Sapnap blushed. “Well- uh, this is sort of awkward since I was sorta banking on you being an employee there, but can you help me find it?” 

Karl was confused. “Why do you want me to come? I told you I don’t work there.” 

“Because I want to get to know you,”   
  


“Karl.” 

“Karl!”

If Karl was thinking rationally, he would’ve said no. All this would’ve done is make him leaving harder for everyone, the last thing he should be doing is getting attached to this other version of Sapnap. 

But Karl was human, and lonely, and tired, and for fuck’s sake he missed his husband.

So he followed Sapnap 2.0.

They walked to the comic store quickly, as sunset was approaching. Pat briefly said goodbye to him, and said to come back to their house if he needed a place to sleep. 

  
  


The comic book store was empty, save for the actual employee. Karl and-

“I hate to ask this, but what’s your name?” Karl asked. 

“Sam.”  Sapnap 2.0  Sam replied. 

“Okay Sam,” Karl flipped through the racks of colorful comics. “Let’s look.” 

The two silently sat next to each other, thumbing through various books. Sometimes, they would nudge one another and point to a page. Sam ruffled Karl’s hair at one point, and eventually they realized they were leaning on each other. 

“Say, Karl, are you a friend of Dorothy?” Sam asked. He seemed nervous while asking it, which Karl was confused by. 

  
“Who’s Dorothy?” Karl asked. 

Sam bit hit lip nervously. “No, I mean, like, are you homosexual?” 

Karl’s eyes widened. “OH.” 

Sam retreated. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have even brought it up, please don’t tell anyone-” 

His words were silenced by Karl’s fingers grazing his lips. 

It felt like fire blazing in his soul, like stars in his eyes, like every last moment need to be cherished because no kiss would never compare to this. 

The kiss was stupid, and selfish, and self indulgent. 

And it was worth it.

The two pulled away, rather awkwardly. 

“So.” Sam said sheepishly. 

Karl looked away. 

_ This isn’t right. _

“Karl?” 

“I shouldn’t have done that” 

Sam’s face visibly fell. “Oh, yeah, of course. I’m, uh, sorry.”

Karl suddenly realized just how sidetracked he was, 

:”I should go.” Karl replied. 

Karl grabbed a nearby manga comic and handed it to Sam. 

“Here.” 

Sam took it hesitantly. 

Suddenly, the watch on Karl’s wrist started buzzing. 

_ REALLY? THIS WAS WHAT I WAS TASKED WITH FIXING? MAKING SURE HE GOT HIS GODDAMN MANGA?  _

Karl started walkiing towards the door.

“Karl?” 

“Uh, yeah, Sam?” 

“It’s sort of weird, but I get this feeling that i’ve-” Sam swept the hair out of his face. “That i’ve known you for a long time. Like- Like were-” 

“-Meant to be.” Karl finished. “I know, Sam. I’ll see you again, in another life.” 

And he walked away. 

\---

The In-Between. Something, previous times, Karl had considered a safe space. A boundary, a haven. 

This was no haven. Something inside here had taken the two people he loved. 

The white pillars no longer seemed beautiful, but cold and heartless. The trees, that once twinkled with light, were merely drained of their color. 

This world had tried to trick him, to fool him with it’s grandiosity and beauty. 

It didn’t work. 

When Karl arrived in the In-Between, a single book laid for him on a quartz pillar. On top of it lay a navy blue beanie with the words “LAFD” imprinted on it, and Karl knew instantly who it belonged to. 

_ Do I have your undivided attention now, Karl? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos+comments make me smile :)
> 
> new chapter might take a min as im going on a ski trip with questionable wifi, but it will be starring our favorite quackmeister :]

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of "i'll search every last cosmos"! kudos+comments are always appreciated :)
> 
> chapter 2 hopefully out soon!


End file.
